The Stimulus Package and Obama's Speech

Tonight, President Obama unveiled his vision for healthcare reform. As such, he referred to the successes thus far and his hopes for the future. As most of you know, both SCHIP and ARRA have been passed. While certainly not simple, SCHIP is fairly straightforward in that it directly addresses health insurance reforms as it relates to children and pregnant women. ARRA (aka the Stimulus Package), on the other hand, comprises many items in addition to the many healthcare reforms. The reforms that will directly impact our industry and our clients are many-fold. Cobra, the federal law that allows employees to continue their healthcare coverage after termination of employment has been expanded and will be subsidized for 9 months in certain instances. Funding for a host of disease research, among them heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease and cancer research, (now the leading cause of death of Americans), was included in this bill. During the President’s speech, he alluded to this and his hope that cancer will be ‘cured within our time’. Funding for Health IT systems are a big part of the package as well, with healthcare providers being mandated to have electronic records by 2015. This item has certainly generated some controversy, however the codification of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and the Comparative Effectiveness provision have become the ‘cause celebre’ in the media and has led to a ‘feeding frenzy’ by radio talk shows and print media. Even our own Las Vegas Review Journal, in it’s Sunday, February 22, 2009 editorial, voiced concerns about misuse of the legislation to deny claims. Nothing could be further from the truth. The law is specifically written with consumer protections in mind. The Coordinator position was actually created during the Bush Administration; the new legislation simply clarifies and officially recognizes it. With so much misinformation out there, your clients look to YOU, their agent, to provide the voice of reason amidst this storm. NAHU and CCAHU provide the answers and training you need to properly inform and advise your clients. One of the ways we can do that by attending our monthly luncheons. Always pertinent and informative, at our March 10th luncheon the various provision of the ARRA will be thoroughly discussed. Now is the time to reserve your seat for the luncheon so you can be better informed to answer your clients’ question